Last night brought my family’s first snowfall in our still-somewhat-new hometown of Mount Airy, NC. It was one of those beautiful snow events…just heavy and moisture-laden enough to cover every tree branch with a blanket of white. Up to this point, we’ve had a very mild winter; so you could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from local teachers and students when they cancelled school for today. But in spite of the unexpected holiday, I’m here in the office (gladly, by the way). When you’re a pastor, Sunday morning approaches quickly, regardless of whether there are snow days or not.

As I drove to the church this morning, I was reminded of a great anthem that the choir of my Baptist Student Union used to sing back when I was in college. If memory serves, it was composed by Mark Hayes and went something like this…

I once read in a poem – when snow covers the earth –
That it hides the worlds scars and gives nature new birth
And they say when a man turns from sin to the Lord
That God’s grace – like the snow – covers him evermore
And somewhere it’s snowing. See the soft drifting down
As the snowflakes surrender to the hardening ground
Like the good grace of Jesus that now covers our sin
In the kingdom of heaven, it’s snowing again

So thank you, Lord, for snow and beauty. Thank you for great memories of good friends. And most of all, thank you for the good grace of Jesus – which still covers sin…and which allows me to start this day with a full heart.